By all means, run around! Jump for joy! Unleash your unfettered passion!

So let’s say it with me, “No. More. Labor issues!”

Or wait…I mean, “Let’s. Play. Hockey!”

Right now let’s forget about the loss of the Winter Classic or the collective bargaining agreements. Instead, let’s focus on the action on the ice and which teams will be around when the playoffs begin.

It may be starting late, but the beginning of season brings hope to every fan.

Is this the year your team wins it all? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Take a deep breath, my friends, hockey is back. And that’s a good thing.

30. Columbus Blue Jackets

Before we make fun of the lowly Blue Jackets, let me remind you that there is talent on this team.

Out is Rick Nash, but in is Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky. They will join a team with two promising 24-year-old goaltenders—Steve Mason and Sergei Bobrovsky—and Derick Brassard and Jack Johnson, two 25-year-olds who are capable NHL players.

There probably isn’t enough here to get the Jackets out of the cellar, but it's something to build on.

This team is stacked. Those six names stand out immediately, but there’s much more to like about this Ducks squad.

The unfortunate thing for hockey fans in Anaheim is that this team often falls short of expectations.

If there’s reason to hope that things will be better, it’s that players like Kyle Palmieri and Devante Smith-Pelly have another year of NHL hockey under their belt and should improve this season. With that added depth, something the Ducks have always needed, Anaheim could shock a couple people and make a dramatic leap this year.

20. Edmonton Oilers

Good sign: Having the first overall selection year after year yields talent.

Bad sign: This team may still be too young.

Edmonton easily could be a surprise team this year.

Their young talent is marinating in the American League, and those players who are too old or established to play in Oklahoma City should have enough experience in the NHL to know what to do once the season starts.

There is some concern about how sound this team is defensively and in net.

19. New Jersey Devils

Here’s a bit of good news for Devils fans: It looks like the financial issues have abated for now.

Here’s some bad news: Zach Parise is no longer on the team.

There’s still a lot of talent in New Jersey—Ilya Kovalchuk, Adam Larsson and Martin Brodeur immediately come to mind—but there is some serious question about how they will fare against the daunting Atlantic Division.

18. Colorado Avalanche

It’s hard not to like the Avalanche’s decision to name Gabriel Landeskog their team captain. He’s one of the league’s premier young players on a team of potential superstars.

Along with Matt Duchene, Jamie McGinn, Ryan O’Reilly and Erik Johnson, Landeskog headlines an under-25 group that could have a breakthrough season this year and bring the great people of Colorado back to the Pepsi Center this year.

In that same breath, however, they may be too young and management will have to tell people once again to wait until next season.

It all starts with the acquisition of Steve Ott, via trade, this offseason.

A change in the locker room culture will hopefully bring out the best in underachieving players, specifically longtime Sabre Thomas Vanek and two highly paid imports, Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino.

11. San Jose Sharks

For years it was the same story with the Sharks. They were a great regular-season team that can’t win it all.

Now there is question about whether they’ll even make the playoffs.

Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Co. remain in the Bay Area, but generally this team has traded away youth (Milan Michalek, Jamie McGinn, Devin Setoguchi) and now has some concern about players on the wrong side of 30 (Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle, Douglas Murray).

10. Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers fans seem pretty certain that their team is making the right moves to bring a Stanley Cup to Philadelphia for the first time since the '70s.

It had to be hard to see Mike Richards and Jeff Carter win it all with the Kings last year, but Philly has talent of its own. Claude Giroux is beloved in the city, Sean Couturier may become one heck of a hockey player, and it’ll be fun to see whether the Schenn brothers can outdo the other fraternal connections in Carolina and Vancouver.

There’s still some questions about whether Ilya Bryzgalov really is that curious about the universe or if he is perpetually high (and, if so, does he store his weed in Scott Hartnell’s hair?).

But, really, the question Flyers fans are asking is: When are they going to win it all?

2. Boston Bruins

Good sign: The core from the 2011 Stanley Cup champion team is intact.

Bad sign: The players are also two years older than they were when they won it all.

Boston is a sports town that outsiders love to hate and, honestly, the locals probably love to be hated.

It’s not hard, then, to see why they love this hockey team.

The Big Bad Bruins will bash in their opponent’s faces, break their ankles with dangles and go hard to the net on every shift.

They have Zdeno Chara, a man bigger than any building in Buffalo; Patrice Bergeron; Chris Kelly, a man who is proud to say he got out of Ottawa; and Tyler Seguin, who thanks God every day that the Maple Leafs traded that pick; at least if you hear them say it.

The great thing about being cocky is that if you win it’s justified. The worst is if a watered-down version of the Capitals knocks you out of the playoffs in the first round, you look like a fool.